Sunday Times Rich List 2011 – Richest People In UK

The Sunday Times Magazine released the 2011 UK Rich List, it reveals that the 1,000 wealthiest people in the country are now worth a combined £395.8 billion, equivalent to more than a third of the national debt.

The number of billionaires has risen from 53 to 73, while nine people have seen their fortunes rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months alone (May 2010 – May 2011.

Top 20 Richest People In UK

1. Lakshmi Mittal & family: £17.51 billion

Source: Steel

Last year’s position: 1st

Although he has topped the Sunday Times Rich List for seven consecutive years, last year was a comparatively bad one for the Indian-born steel magnate. Falling stock markets wiped nearly £5 billion off his personal fortune.

However, he can now celebrate the fact that the football club he owns a stake in, Queens Park Rangers, will be playing in the Premier League next season.

2. Alisher Usmanov: £12.4 billion

Source: Steel
Last year’s position: 6th

The steel and mining magnate is well known to fans of Arsenal, as he owns a 27% stake in the club. And while he may have been dismayed by fellow board member Stan Kroenke’s move to take a controlling interest in the Gunners, he can console himself with the fact that his personal fortune has grown by a whopping £7.7 billion in the past year. That’s easily the biggest increase of anyone on the Rich List.Usmanov’s portfolio of business interests now includes timber, telecoms and internet companies.

3. Roman Abramovich: £10.3 billion

Source: Oil, IndustryLast year’s position: 2nd

The oil tycoon and Chelsea football club owner added a mammoth £2.9 billion to his personal wealth over the course of the past year, although that wasn’t enough to stop him falling a place in the Rich List. He lists himself as the owner of seven properties in Britain.

4. Duke of Westminster: £7 billion

Source: Property
Last year’s position: 3rd

The Duke of Westminster is the highest British-born billionaire on the Sunday Times list. His giant Grosvenor property group weathered the economic storm, with his empire once again rising in value by £250 million over the past year.

5. Ernesto & Kirsty Bertarelli: £6.87 billion

Source: Pharmaceuticals

Last year’s position: 4th

Ernesto Bertarelli has made his fortune from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies. His wife Kirsty Bertarelli, a former Miss UK, is officially the richest woman on this year’s Rich List.

Their wealth grew by £920 million in 2010, although, slightly more disappointingly, Ernesto failed to defend the America’s Cup yachting title he won in 2003 and 2007.

6. Leonard Blavatnik: £6.2 billion

Source: Industry

Last year’s position: 15th

Leonard Blavatnik is based in both New York and London (he paid £41 million for his home in Kensington). In 2009, the US arm of his Lyondell Chemical operation had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but it has since emerged back into profit.

His stakes in the aluminium, oil and chemical industries netted him £3.2 billion in 2010, says the Sunday Times.

7. John Fredriksen: £6.2 billion

Source: Shipping

Last year’s position: 16th

John Fredriksen is Norway’s richest man. He built his fortune in the shipping industry and owns homes in London, Cyprus, Oslo and Marbella. He also has a stake in travel and shipping group TUI, which owns well-known travel brands including First Choice and Thomson.

The family fortune has grown by a huge £3.45 billion since the 2010 Rich List, which the Sunday Times attributes to shrewd investments in oil exploration and seafood companies.

8. David & Simon Reuben: £6.176 billion

Source: Property, Internet

Last year’s position: 5th

Brothers David and Simon Reuben have seen their combined fortune rise by £644 million in the past year. If that’s not enough, they’re planning on floating their company, Global Switch, which runs data centres across the world and is valued at over £3 billion.

They also own properties including London’s iconic Millbank Tower (pictured above), a third of the UK’s racecourses and ‘London’ Oxford airport. They originally made their fortunes in the Russian aluminium industry.

9=Gopi & Sri Hinduja – £6 billion

Source: Industry, Finance

New entry

The Hinduja brothers inherited their father’s conglomerate, which has interests in the power, automotive and defence industries in India and worldwide. Gopichand and Srichand (pictured left and right respectively in the photo above) are now based in Britain and the company has bought British outsourcing business Careline as well as a stake in bus manufacturer Optare. The Sunday Times values their combined share of the family fortune at £6 billion.

9=Galen & George Weston : £6 billion

Source: Retailing

Last year’s position: 7th

Last year, the Westons jumped forty places up the Rich List after the wealth of two sides of their family was merged. The family has amassed their fortune in retail, including the Loblaw supermarket chain in Canada, and their UK interests include a stake in Primark owner Associated British Foods. They also own a 200-acre estate in Henley-on-Thames.

The Westons’ wealth grew by £1.5 billion over the past year, according to the Sunday Times.

11. Charlene & Michel de Carvalho: £5.4 billion

Source: Inherited,Brewing,Banking

Last year’s position: 8th

Known as Britain’s ‘queen of brewing’, Charlene de Carvalho is the only child of the late Freddy Heineken. If that wasn’t enough, her banker husband Michel is vice-chairman of US banking firm Citigroup. The Sunday Times estimates that their joint fortune has grown by £1 billion over the past year, as Heineken’s share price has increased.

12. Ravi Ruia: £4.9 billion

Source: Energy

New entry

This year’s second highest new entry, Ravi Ruia (pictured on the right above) made his fortune in his homeland of India with his brother Shashi but now calls London home. The two inherited their father’s shipping agency, but diversified into marine construction and support, mining, telecoms and energy. The brothers are valued at around £9.9 billion by Forbes magazine and the Sunday Times reckons Ravi is worth a little under half of that amount.

13=Sir Philip and Lady Green: £4.2 billion

Source: Retailing

Last year’s position: 9th

The Greens’ retail empire, which includes Topshop and Bhs, continues to grow, despite the tough times on the high street. The Sunday Times estimates that the couple’s fortune has grown by £95 million since last year’s Rich List.

13=Hans Rausing & family: £4.2 billion

Source: Packaging

Last year’s position: 11th

Hans Rausing owes much of his wealth to packaging firm Tetra Laval, which was founded by his father. In 1995, he sold his stake in the firm to his brother Gad (father of Jorn and Kirsten) for an estimated £4.4 billion. His current investments include a stake in Ecoclean, an environmentally friendly packaging material.The Sunday Times estimates that this branch of the Rausing family’s fortune grew by £200 million in the past year.

15. Joseph Lau: £3.937 billion

Source: Property

Last year’s position: 12th

Joseph Lau was last year’s highest new entrant in the Rich List. His business interests are based mostly in Hong Kong but he owns a house in London’s exclusive Eaton Square, bought for £33 million.According to the Sunday Times, Lau owns one of the world’s finest wine collections, with at least 10,000 bottles, and is an avid art collector.His various assets increased by £112 million over the past year.

16. Kirsten & Jorn Rausing: £3.9 billion

Source: Inheritance, Investment

Last year’s position: 13th

The Rausings’ late father Gad developed the Tetra Pak packaging system. Today, Jorn is based in Surrey and heads the mergers and acquisitions division of packaging firm Tetra Laval (which Tetra Pak became part of). His sister Kirsten is also on the board. Jorn also has a stake in online retailer Ocado, while Kirsten is a successful breeder of racehorses.Tetra Laval has enjoyed strong growth in the Far East over the past year, and the Sunday Times has added £400 million to the family’s wealth as a result.

17. Anil Agarwal: £3.81 billion

Source: Mining

Last year’s position: 10th

The share price of Anil Agarwal’s London-based mining group Vedanta Resources continues to rise, although his personal fortune is estimated to have dropped by £290 million in the past 12 months. He owns a £20 million home in Mayfair.

18. Vladimir Kim: £3.5 billion

Source: Mining

Last year’s position: 14th

Vladimir Kim is the chairman of Kazakhmys, Kazakhstan’s largest copper producer. He is widely credited with reviving the ailing company, which at one stage was £200 million in debt and not paying wages. He sold £838 million of his shares in the company last year, and overall increased his fortune by £340 million.

19. Sir Richard Branson: £3.085 billion

Source: Internet,Mobile phones,Transport

Last year’s position: 18th

Sir Richard’s well known for his diverse business ventures, but perhaps the most ambitious of all will soon take flight with the launch of Virgin Galactic. In the past 12 months his wealth has increased by £485 million.

20. Nicky Oppenheimer: £2.9 billion

Source: Mining, Diamonds

Last year’s position: joint-31st

The grandson of the founder of mining behemoth Anglo American, which now owns the world famous De Beers diamond group, Oppenheimer has benefitted from a surge in the company’s share price. He sold £64 million of stock in the company in December 2010 and is estimated to have earned a massive £1.4 billion in 2010.

Britain’s Top 10 Richest Women:

The 105 women on the main list are worth a total of £45.2 billion.

1.Kirsty Bertarelli – £6.9 billion

Mrs Bertarelli, 39, is a former Miss UK and has worked as a song writer, including writing the hit song Black Coffee for the band All Saints. Her husband was the owner of biotech giant Serono until 2007 and winner of the America’s Cup, the yacht race, in 2003 and 2007.

The couple have seen their wealth increase by £920 million over the past year, according to the list, and jointly, they are ranked fifth.

2.Charlene de Carvalho – £5.4 billion

With an increase of £1 billion on last year.The 56-year-old is the daughter of Freddy Heineken, the former boss of Heineken, and inherited her father’s wealth when he died in 2002.

3.Lady Green – £4.2 billion

Lady Green, 61, the wife of Sir Philip Green, the retail tycoon, is third on the list, with a shared fortune of around £4.2 billion.

4.Kirsten Rausing – £3,9 billion

Tetra Laval, the Swiss-based packaging group, turned in sales of £7.6 billion in 2009.Kirsten owns two Suffolk stud farms and is a passionate racing enthusiast. With strong growth in the Far East, Tetra Laval is worth £7.6 billion. We ascribe half of that to Kirsten and Jorn, adding £100m for stud farms and their stake in Ocado.

5.Baroness Howard de Walden and family- £1.82 billion

Howard de Walden Estates acquired 14 period buildings on Harley Street from the Crown Estate last year for £34m. The properties, set in the middle of the de Waldens’ 90-acre London estate, had not been traded in more than 470 years.

6.Dame Mary Perkins – £1.2 billion

Dame Mary Perkins, Britain’s first self-made billionaire, with an estimated wealth of around £1.2 billion.She made her fortune after building up the Specsavers opticians’ chain with her husband.

7.Xiuli Hawken – £1,066m

Born Dai Xiuli in Harbin,China, Hawken made her fortune from leasing air-raid shelters with her brother, Dai Yongge, and turning them into underground shopping malls across the world’s most populous nation.Hawken studied Chinese literature before becoming a reporter, then left for London in 1991, where she began working in finance. She married Tony Hawken, a teacher, and they have a modest home in South Norwood, near Croydon.

8.Denise Coates – £750m

There seems to be no stopping Bet365, the Stoke-based online gaming group. Profits soared in 2009-10 from £66.5m to nearly £101m on £420m sales. It is worth £700m.

9.Lily Safra – £750m

Safra is continuing with her charity work: last year she gave $12.3m to Harvard University to further the work of its Edmond J Safra Center for ethics, named in honour of her late banker husband, as part of at least £28m spent charitably.

10.Slavica Ecclestone – £734m

An amicable divorce in March 2009 made Ecclestone, 52, one of the richest women in Britain. The former model, born Slavica Radic in what is now Croatia, ended her 24-year marriage to Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One motorsport tycoon. Much of the family’s £2.2 billion fortune was held in Slavica’s name in offshore trusts in Jersey. The couple are on good terms and it is thought Bernie managed to keep about two-thirds of the fortune he has built up through his shrewd handling of F1.